Man jailed for sexually assaulting stepdaughter, 12, whose nude photos were in 'SgNasilemak' chat

SINGAPORE: A man sexually assaulted his 12-year-old stepdaughter after remarrying her mother, preying on the girl when they were alone at home.

He also told her to take intrusive photos of herself after threatening her. Nude photos of the girl were later found circulating in a Telegram chat called "SgNasilemak".

The man, now 38, was on Monday (Jul 25) sentenced to 11-and-a-half years' jail and 15 strokes of the cane.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of aggravated sexual assault, outrage of modesty and sexual exploitation of a child. Three more charges were considered for sentencing.

The offender and victim cannot be named as their identities are protected by a gag order.

The court heard that the offender and victim's mother, now 35, were previously married. They remarried in 2016 and had two sons together.

The man was unemployed at the time of the offences. The victim's mother was a homemaker who stopped working in 2018 to care for her children.

ASSAULTS STARTED WHEN SHE WAS 10

The man first sexually assaulted his stepdaughter at home in 2017, when she was 10.

In June that year, he approached her when she was lying down on her grandmother's bed at home and told her to perform a sexual act.

She complied as she felt that she could not refuse the offender, whom she regarded as her father. But after another similar incident later that day, she told him she did not want to do it anymore.

After that, the victim avoided her stepfather but did not tell anyone what had happened as she was scared of him. She was also afraid that telling someone would cause her mother to divorce him, breaking her family up.

The victim was especially concerned about the effect such a split would have on her younger stepbrothers, as she had already seen this happen after her mother's first divorce.

"Nothing untoward" happened for almost two years after this incident, which lulled the victim into thinking there would be no repeat of the assaults, said Deputy Public Prosecutors Yvonne Poon and Eric Hu.

STEPFATHER THREATENED HER FOR SEX

But she was assaulted again on May 25, 2019, when she was 12. That morning, the offender woke the victim up while she was sleeping in her room.

At that time, the offender had access to the victim's phone as she would give him her password when he asked for it, out of respect for him as a paternal figure.

While looking at her text messages, the victim's stepfather found out that she had had sex with her 13-year-old boyfriend. The victim was scared and embarrassed when he confronted her about it.

The offender asked his stepdaughter to take photos of herself naked in the bathroom and send them to him over WhatsApp. He threatened to tell the victim's mother that she had been having sex if she did not do so.

The victim complied and went into the bathroom. After that, she stayed in the toilet for a while and cried as she was confused and scared.

When the girl emerged from the bathroom, her stepfather was outside in the kitchen. He asked her to perform a sexual act there, and she complied.

During the assault, the man lifted the victim's shirt and touched her chest. The victim noticed a flash and saw the man pointing his phone camera at her.

A photo of the victim with her chest exposed was later found in the offender's phone.

VICTIM CONFIDES IN BOYFRIEND, ASSAULTED AGAIN

After the assault, the offender told his stepdaughter to call her boyfriend over. When he arrived, the offender told him to use a condom next time and passed him one.

The victim and her boyfriend then left the house. While they were out, the offender sent the victim a text message telling her to take a taxi home and that he wanted to take her out to play football when she was back.

The girl was afraid of being alone with her stepfather again. She asked her boyfriend to follow her home, and told him what had happened that morning.

The victim's boyfriend told her to tell her mother, but she said that she was too scared. The boyfriend then gave her a small foldable knife and another multipurpose tool and told her to keep them.

The victim assumed these were meant for her protection and put them in her bag. She continued to cry in the taxi as she was afraid of what would happen when she returned home.

When they reached home, the offender asked why the victim's boyfriend was with her. As all three were leaving the house to play football, the boyfriend's mother called him and he had to leave.

Alone with the victim again, the offender told her that the football session was cancelled. They went back into the flat and the man told her in a "stern and serious" tone to perform a sexual act, court documents stated.

The victim complied as she was afraid. She went into her room after that, where she took out the foldable knife and contemplated using it on herself as she felt like she wanted to die.

Later that day, while meeting her boyfriend again, the victim broke down and told him what had happened after he left. Despite his urging, she still did not want to tell her mother as she was afraid of breaking up the family.

BOYFRIEND GATHERS EVIDENCE

Sometime later, the victim's boyfriend told her that he needed to help her and tell an adult what had happened.

He went through her phone and discovered that she was a member of the "SgNasilemak" chat group. The victim told him that her stepfather had used her phone to join the group.

The boyfriend found that three nude photos of the victim had been put into circulation inside the chat group. He saved screenshots of the obscene material into a thumb drive.

He then met the victim's maternal aunt to tell her about this, and passed her the thumb drive. She in turn informed the victim's mother.

The victim's aunt also confronted the offender over the phone on Jul 3, 2019. He was defensive and initially denied all wrongdoing, claiming he was drunk and could not remember anything.

It was only later on that the offender said he would confess to his actions. The victim's aunt eventually made a police report on Jul 26, 2019.

Naked photos of the victim were later found in the phones belonging to both the girl and her stepfather.

A web history of the stepfather's phone also showed access to the "SGNasiLenak4" chat group, which was known to circulate obscene photos.

According to the offender's psychiatric evaluation, he was likely to have been intoxicated with alcohol around the time of the 2019 offences, but still aware of the nature and wrongfulness of his actions.

The prosecution sought a longer jail term of 12-and-a-half years, highlighting the victim's vulnerability and young age, the offender's abuse of trust and his premeditation.

Ms Poon added that the man's offences spanned almost two years and were not a fleeting incident.

Defence counsel Teo Choo Kee asked for not more than 11 years' jail, arguing that his client's actions were not premeditated.

Justice Dedar Singh Gill said that the offender's assault of his stepdaughter violated the sanctity of his relationship with her, and the circulation of her nude photos degraded her further.

The punishment for aggravated sexual assault involving penetration is between eight and 20 years' jail and not less than 12 strokes of the cane.

Those who outrage the modesty of a child under 14 can be jailed for up to five years, fined, caned or any combination of these punishments.

Those guilty of procuring an indecent act from a young person under 16 can be jailed for up to five years, fined up to S$10,000 or both.